Hit List: Alternate Ending
by Kurozu-and-Kidd
Summary: An alternate ending to Hit List. Rated M for brief language.


"Have you heard?"

"Heard what?"

"Kat won the Hunger Games."

"I know."

"Did you hear about the offer the Capitol gave her?"

"No, and I really don't care."

"You should care, Charles. Your life is on the line."

Charles stopped his card game and glanced at Cera. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, the Capitol is having trouble with the districts and the uprisings, right?"

"Well, duh. They don't want to be a part of any of this."

"Yea. So they told Kat that if she helped snuff the districts…"

"Spit it out, Cera."

"Well that she could kill anyone she wanted to."

He let out a short laugh. "They can't do that. Not without proper justification."

"She'll tell them you were plotting against them. Treason."

"But why should I be concerned?"

Cera began to be genuinely concerned." She made a hit list."

"Ok."

"Charles!"

"What?!"

Cera didn't want to be the one to tell him, especially since everyone had stopped what they were doing to listen to her.

She especially didn't want Kat to end her relationship with Charles. They were a cute couple and they worked so well together, but it was getting rocky and as far as she'd heard, Kat wanted to fix it. So did Charles, even if he sounded half-assed about it. But he wanted to be with her.

But what she had seen the other day in a Peacekeeper's office had blown her away. She almost broke down and cried right there. She saw Kat's hit list. And Charles was number one.

"Charles," she whispered, "I'm not supposed to be telling you this."

"Tell me anyways."

She looked into his eyes, hoping the seriousness in her own would translate to him. But it didn't.

"I could get into a lot of trouble."

"I don't care. I'm her boyfriend and I have a right to know."

But everyone else didn't. Did it really matter? They were safe from Kat's wrath. She had to tell him.

"You're first on her list."

He laughed nervously. "Impossible. She loves me."

"They why, of all the people she hates, are you first on her list of people to kill?"

She saw the hurt and fear in his eyes. There were several people she could kill first. But she put his name first. No matter how hard she tried to fix the problems, she had found out about his lies, and she had made her decision, significant other or not.

"All I'm saying is be careful around her."

But the next few weeks went without Charles seeing Kat. And it began to worry him. Usually, he saw her every day, even if they didn't speak. He wanted this to work out; he really did love her. But all of these hit list rumors were scaring him. Was he really the first one on the list? Charles, the one she claimed to care so much about? The one she spent so much of her time and emotion on trying to get him to understand how she really feels about him?

All his questions were answered as he was walking to his car one cold December evening. The chill of the air sent chills down his spine as he walked down the campus path. But this…this was a different chill. Not from the cold, no, but from being watched. The questions were answered when a sharp pain came across his right temple and sent him crashing to the ground. His attacker picked him up by the hair and dragged him back the way he came, down the path, passed the school, into the woods. They continued through the tress until they came up to a clearing where the grip on Charles's head was released and he fell once more to the dirt; he got up quickly and looked at the sight before him.

A small, caged arena, meant for executions, set up by the Capitol against the will of the school. It was hidden so that no one could be bothered by it, but it didn't matter, because everyone knew it was there. Charles had never been here, and after looking at the person who had barraged him, he knew why he had been brought here. Everyone was right about his girlfriend.

Kat had brought him here to kill him.

As if she had read his mind, she took a firm hold of his wrist and dragged him to the platform where she tied his hands behind his back and forced him to his knees. By now, a small crowd had surrounded the cage. When Charles looked up from the wooden floor, he could see it was all his friends. Cera, Aliazaar, Stef, Nikolas, Bryant.

And Candace.

Candace was the girl that he had sort of developed feelings for, just slightly. Not enough to leave Kat, though. He could tell Candace liked him, and he had told her to stay away because he had a girlfriend. Is this why he was here? Had Kat been watching?

Katherina stood before Charles, bow and arrow in hand. It was loaded and ready to be pulled back.

"Kat…" he started.

"No." She brought the bow up and pulled the arrow back, equipped to fire. He hadn't accepted this, yet. He wasn't ready to die. He didn't want to leave this mortal world, not without Kat.

"Kat, please. I'm sorry."

"No amount of your bullshit 'sorry's' will save you."

"Kat, I love you. You don't have to do this," he begged.

Her grip on the string tightened. Any second now and she'd let go. But then a thought came to his mind. He remembered the conversation before all of this happened, where he had almost ended the relationship before she told him not to give up and throw it all away.

"Kat! Don't I get any last words?"

"No." He should've known she'd be ruthless. But he had to be quick.

"Remember what I said that night at the café?"

This seemed to make her even angrier." Yea. Weren't you considering ending it?"

"Yes. But remember, over time."

He'd gotten her. He could see it in her eyes as she, too, remembered the exchange of words.

_"Can any of this be salvaged?"_

_ "...over time."_

_ "Charles…"_

The crowd had grown and people were screaming at Kat to kill him. She glanced over at Candace, and before anyone could process what she was doing, she turned her aim towards Candace and fired, sending the arrow through the right eye and the center of the brain. She collapsed to the ground, dead, with the tip of the arrowhead sticking out the back of her head and the feathers out the socket.

The crowd was silent; they turned their attention back to Kat, who was approaching Charles with a knife.

"Kat no! You can only kill one person!" Cera screamed. But she wasn't intending on killing anyone else. She instead broke the rope restraining her beloved.

"Why?" he whispered.

"Because I'm giving you a chance to change what you've done." And with that, she turned and walked away.


End file.
